Tag: Donald Cerrone

It’s pretty appropriate that UFC 137 is transpiring Halloween weekend. Not only will Mirko Cro Cop and Brandon Vera attempt to bring their respective careers back from the dead, but the card also features a cowboy, a French zombie, and a Hawaiian vampire. The main event pits Nick Diaz Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit against long reigning champion George St. Pierre in what should be his toughest test to date (seriously this time). So, to determine exactly how well each fighter will do, we’ve compiled a list of empirical and infallible data that would make Gil Grissom blush with envy. Of course, if you feel the fight will end differently, be sure to let us know in the comments section.

MMAJunkie is reporting that Donald Cerrone (16-3) has agreed to step in for Sam Stout against Dennis Siver (19-7) at UFC 137 October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Although it is unclear whether or not Stout is injured, it could simply be a case of the Canadian lightweight standout needing more time to deal with the sudden passing of his best friend, brother-in-law, mentor and trainer Shawn Tompkins earlier this month before fighting his first bout without “The Coach” in his corner.

The UFC paid out $838,000 in disclosed payouts and bonuses to the fighters at Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event, according to figures released by Wisconsin’s Department of Safety and Professional Services. Chris “The Bonus Snatcher” Lytle and Donald Cerrone were the only competitors who broke the six-figure mark, with Dan Hardy’s haul landing just short.

The numbers are below; keep in mind that they don’t include additional income from sponsorships and undisclosed “locker room” bonuses, or deductions for taxes, insurance, and licensing fees.

Full betting lines for this Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event have been released, which means it’s time to steal some money from your old lady’s purse and tell her you’re going for a walk. And if you follow our gambling advice very carefully, you’ll be able to return the cash before she notices and earn some extra cigarette-money in the process. (Ed. note: You’ll probably lose everything like usual. Are things ever going to change with you, Jim?) Check out the juiciest lines, via bestfightodds.com:

(When Donald was finished with his country-glam-rock version of “Home Sweet Home,” there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Mostly because the audience had all left by then. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

It’s kind of a long story, but due to a series of injuries and replacements, a lightweight prelim between John Makdessi and Paul Taylor slated for UFC on Versus 5 (August 14th, Milwaukee) eventually morphed into an even more compelling matchup between lanky cowboy-hatted veteran Donald Cerrone and young submission ace Charles Oliveira. That’s the good news. The even-better news is that Cerrone vs. Oliveira has been bumped to the event’s main card due to its awesomeness.

Cerrone is on a four-fight win streak, which includes submission victories over Chris Horodecki and Paul Kelly, but caught some criticism in his last outing — a lopsided decision victory over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 — for arguably playing it safe rather than going for a finish. Meanwhile, Oliveira’s last victory was recently overturned to a no-contest due to the fact that he set up his rear-naked choke submission against Nik Lentz with a very blatant illegal knee, which everybody in the building spotted except for the referee.

After the jump, the full lineup for UFC on Versus 5, which looks pretty damn entertaining for a free card.

Donald Cerrone is one of those guys that will apologize for not kicking a guy’s ass thoroughly enough, even when no drunk frat guys are booing in the crowd. After failing to put away a one-legged Vagner Rocha, Cerrone was visibly disappointed with his performance. Knowing Cowboy, though, no one is in a hurry to give him a hard time about it, including our boy Ariel Helwani.

Helwani caught up with Cerrone to ask him about the fight, his feuds with Mac Danzig and Cole Miller, and who he’d like to fight next. Pretty standard stuff that we’ve covered before, until they start talking matchups. Cerrone hasn’t forgotten about Danzig, whom Cowboy had previously insinuated faked an injury to get out of fighting him. “I’m just talking shit, that’s what I do.” Cerrone says of Danzig. “I hope he’s not injured, I hope he can fight.”

Look, I get it. Vancouver fans are extremely excited about their Canucks winning 1-0 at home on Friday, putting the team one win away from taking the Stanley Cup. I’m more than willing to forgive those in attendance for being less than excited about UFC 131, an MMA event absent of title fights, or even some fellow Canadians on the main card. I’ll forgive the chants of “Go Canucks Go” and “We Want The Cup” that broke out throughout the evening. I’ll even forgive them for being won over by Jon Olav Einemo’s Canucks flag. But not watching the fights you’re supposed to be judging? That’s unacceptable.

There were some downright awful decisions made by the judges last night, causing some to wonder if they even watched the fights. Fortunately for Junior Dos Santos, his beating of Shane Carwin was too lopsided to possibly mess up. No doubt, Dos Santos looked impressive against Shane Carwin. Not only did he survive some of Shane’s hardest punches, but he also displayed some improved wrestling. He even managed to make Carwin look gun-shy, which seemed unthinkable. There were numerous times throughout the fight where it seemed crazy that Junior Dos Santos was fighting the same guy that almost dethroned Brock Lesnar. Before we get too excited though, remember that Shane Carwin managed to survive all three rounds, despite being a late replacement coming off of surgery. Time will tell how Dos Santos holds up against Cain Valesquez.

At that exact moment, as he stepped on the scales, he was haunted by the thought that he’d left his oven on. And that was the beginning of the end for Shane Carwin. (Pic: UFC.com)

This card was dealt a serious blow when PPV kingpin Brock Lesnar dropped out due to his ongoing battle with diverticulitis, and the hits just keptcoming. Despite the constant deck shuffling, Joe Silva’s cooked up a decent batch of chicken salad, setting up a headlining bout that in many ways is more compelling than the original and a few match-ups that pose some interesting questions. How will a Jenny Craig’d Carwin perform in his first fight back after undergoing surgery? Will Florian finally find a stable home at 145lbs? Can you even call it “ring rust” after a five year layoff?

A lot of tonight’s fights are tough to call, but we’ll call them just the same. If you tuned in to YouTube or Facebook for the pre-prelims, you were treated to copious amounts of leather (and some questionable judging). We’ll hold off on the results of those fights and the Spike undercard in case they make it to the PPV broadcast. As always, your witty and insightful comments are more than welcome. Your shitty ones, not so much.

Donald Cerrone faces UFC newcomer Vagner Rocha this weekend at UFC 131, but to hear him tell it, he knows next to nothing about the guy. “I haven’t watched any video on him and I haven’t watched any tape on him, I don’t care,” Cerrone told UFC.com, “I’m going in there to fight him like I’m going in there to fight anyone else.”

Of course, “fighting him like anyone else” means that we could well have a Fight of the Night on our hands, an award that Cerrone has picked up five times in four years. His first fight with Ben Henderson in 2009 was a five round war that was Sherdog’s pick for Fight of the Year. Now 14-3 (1 NC), Cerrone has racked up 12 submissions wins, but he’s not interested in going to the ground. Speaking of his opponent, a noted grappler with four of six wins coming via submission, Cerrone lets it be known that he wants a damn fight. “I hope he doesn’t come wanting to make this a jiu-jitsu match,” Cowboy says.